Surprise visit to FABO winner

Hi to Hayley Coupe from Maungawhau school who was one of the winners in the FABO story competition. I surprised Hayley with a visit to her school yesterday to award her prize.

http://www.maungawhau.school.nz/Site/Online_Classrooms/Writing_Group/The_FaBo_Story.ashx

Books = The Internet = Books: In the O’Reilly column in Forbes, a writer takes a look at the diminishing distinction between books and the Internet.
http://ping.fm/P4GOa

First Review for The Project

A lovely first review for The Project from Booksellers & Publishers magazine

Check out the FABO online story. 9 authors, 9 illustrators... madness!
http://ping.fm/kfQXW

Authors and Book Reviews

Like most authors, I crave reviews, just as I fear them. My work, my beautiful baby that I spent years writing and editing, is up on public display for anyone to comment on as they like. But I, the author, get no right of reply. My mouth is taped shut.
I have been fortunate in that I have had almost all positive reviews. Where a reviewer has criticised some aspect of one of my books, after the initial defensive reaction, I have tried to take that criticism on board for future books, thinking that if one reviewer thinks that, then so will thousands of readers.
I publish all the reviews I find on my website, good or bad, so that people can read them all and make up their own mind.
Reviews come in two types. There are those by professional reviewers, who write for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, or sometimes just for the web. Then there are amateur reviews. Anybody with a computer and access to the internet can write down their thoughts on a book and publish it on a blog somewhere.
The first kind, the professional reviewers, tend to be people with experience in children’s literature who have read widely and can write well. Whether they like a book, or not, they tend to provide a balanced, reasoned view of the book, although it is, of course, still just one person’s opinion.
The second kind of review, the amateur blogger, is very different, but just as interesting. Anyone can express an opinion, even if they’ve only read one book in their entire lives. But it is still a valid opinion. I think most authors value amateur reviews as taken collectively they provide an insight into the mind of the average reader.
Sites like GoodReads (www.goodreads.com) invite readers to write reviews and rate books, and give an author the ability to see how their books rate against other books such as Harry Potter. (Brainjack:  3.8 stars, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: 4.2 stars).
The only amateur reviews I don’t like are the stupid ones. Ones where the writer simply doesn’t know what they are talking about. One review of “The Tomorrow Code” criticised the science in it, saying “it involves so much appalling cod-science that I actually hit myself over the head with the book at one point to see if it was less painful that way.” Yet the science was very well researched, including interviews with university professors.  The science was extended from science fact into science fiction, but the basis of it all was solid. So I rather think that this reviewer must have hit themselves on the head with books a little too hard, or too often! (Now I’m reviewing the reviewer! I wonder how they feel.)
A review yesterday of Brain Jack described the technology in the book as “just a bunch of random computer terms”. But they weren’t. I have a long background in computers, and also sought the help of one of New Zealand’s leading computer experts to make sure that the technology was as accurate as possible, bearing in mind that the book is set in the future, and that I didn’t want it to become a “how-to” manual for hackers.
Yet even while I grit my teeth at such stupid comments, I know that even these people represent a proportion of the readership of my books and that all reviews, even the misguided, ill-informed, stupid, amateur ones have a right to exist, and to be read.
Some authors claim they never read reviews. I wonder if that is true, but if it is, I think they are misguided. Reviews, professional and amateur, give the author an insight into the mind of the reader.
Henry Ford famously said “Never complain, never explain.”
That’s the world that we authors live in.

The first copy of The Project (previously titled "The Most Boring Book in the World") arrived yesterday. It looks great. Fantastic work by everybody at Walker Books Australia. It goes on sale next month.
http://ping.fm/zniuR

Getting lots of great questions from kids in America on the Random House blog:
http://ping.fm/vAXLA

I am pleased to report that Brainjack has won the YA section of the Sir Julius Vogel Science Fiction awards held at the Au Contraire Science Fiction Convention held in Wellington tonight.

The Twilight Zone (1961) predicts the rise of the E-Book. (For all my librarian friends!)
http://ping.fm/KKx2e

Tomorrow Code Poster

A great movie poster for The Tomorrow Code, designed by a student from Birkenhead Primary school. (Note who he has selected to produce and direct the movie!)

Hi to all the kids from Temuka Primary who sent me their lovely stories. Thanks Darwin, Sam, Isobel, Cameron, Jayda, Cole, Logan and Peter!

NZ Post Children's Book Awards

The results of the New Zealand Post book awards have just been announced, and I am very happy to announce that Brainjack won the Children's Choice award for the Young Adult Category.
Congratulations to all the other winners, very well deserved!

Hi to everyone from Whakatane who came to my talk today. Thanks Rangitaiki for putting me on your blog: http://ping.fm/gMcUn

A great poem from a year 8 student at Mt Maunganui Intermediate.
http://ping.fm/Cn3O9

Mt Maunganui Intermediate

Hi to everyone at Mt Maunganui Intermediate. It was a great visit today, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
I really enjoyed the poems you gave me, thanks Jonas, Victoria, Kate, Olivia, Emily and Steven.
Janetta your poem entitled 'Dreams' was simply stunning. Fantastic work everybody.

A great review of Brainjack by the CBCA

Set in the U.S. in the near future, sixteen-year-old Sam Wilson graduates from talented computer hacker and petty thief to cyber warrior in an heroic battle against cyber terrorism. As a result of his daring attack on the computer systems of the White House, Sam is recruited into the Homeland Security, Cyber Defence Division (CDD), an unlikely collection of computer whizz kids whose urgent mission is to protect the country's cyber network from imminent attack. Tension is unrelenting in this fast-paced action novel and complex issues of ethics and science are seamlessly embedded within it. The characters are well developed, Sam is an engaging protagonist, with plenty of initiative and capable of great loyalty and friendship in situations of extreme danger; the motley cast of minor characters is full of individual quirks and idiosyncrasies. Extensive use of technical jargon and information does not interfere with the non-technical reader's enjoyment, and the projected innovations in cyber technology are totally convincing. A great read. Recommended for ages 12+.

Why We Write..

Hi Mr Falkner honestly speaking, i hate reading books, but last year, when you came to our school (Glen Waverley Secondary College in Melbourne) and talked about your books; u have actually inspired me to read! I was dying to read The real Thing, and i got the school to order the book for me at last!! i would like to thank you for inspiring me to read! i am also doing an assignment on your book!

Brainjack Technology gets closer

The world moves a step closer to the technology of Brainjack:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/3564525/Mind-reading-software-unwrapped

Metro Magazine article

A nice article in this months Auckland Metro magazine. Unfortunately the photographer had me squinting into the sun on a clear blue day in downtown Auckland.

German Website for The Tomorrow Code

Brian Falkner The German Website for The Tomorrow Code looks fantastic. It helps if you speak German, but if not, then Google Translate does a great (and sometimes funny) job of translating the page for you.
www.tomorrowcode.de

Hi to all the great kids from Bluestone School in Timaru.
Here is a link to their newsletter about the visit. In the first pic I am standing next to a couple of High School students. (I am standing in a hole...)
http://ping.fm/hXuUa

Hi to all the kids from the schools in Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatane, Cambridge and Hamilton that I will be visiting this week. Looking forward to it!